LANDISVILLE — By late in the fourth quarter the guys on the Wilson defense should’ve been able to kick back a little, stare up at the scoreboard and see shutout.

Instead they found themselves with their backs up against the wall, stopping one fourth-down conversion bid after another as they held off Hempfield in what ended up as a deceiving 21-14 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 victory.

Deceiving because the Bulldogs (3-1, 5-2) played spectacular defense yet couldn’t seem to shake the Black Knights (2-2, 3-4), who turned a pair of turnovers into touchdowns to keep Wilson on its heels.

The Bulldogs were in complete control, leading 21-7 and hogging the ball on a 14-play possession that took them deep into Hempfield territory late in the third quarter.

Everything turned around when 250-pound defensive tackle Brandon Kline stepped in front of a screen pass and took it 65 yards to the end zone, putting the Black Knights right back into it.

“That was a fluke,” said Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms. “I don’t know that he read (the screen), but they put pressure on and (quarterback Steve) Huber had to get rid of it quick and threw it right into the kid’s arms.”

When Huber was sacked and fumbled the ball away on the next series Hempfield took over at midfield with 11 minutes remaining.

The Black Knights had plenty of time to move in for the tying score. The problem is they just couldn’t move. At all.

They couldn’t pierce the league’s top-rated defense. The Bulldogs allowed just 74 total yards, a mere 69 rushing yards on 33 attempts.

They allowed three first downs, one of them by penalty. Hempfield had 11 possessions. Four ended on punts, three on downs, two on turnovers and one by halftime.

Linebacker Colton Weaver and tackles Rodney Hill and Shayne Klopp effectively bottled up the middle, taking the dive out of Hempfield’s option attack.

Quarterback Jarvis Cummings ran wild a week ago, rushing for 196 yards and scoring on a pair of long runs against Penn Manor. Any time he tried to turn the corner against the Bulldogs he ran smack dab into the middle of linebackers Jon Wagner or Jordan Holbert or into end Peniel St. Julien.

Cummings ran for all of 19 yards, on 11 carries. His longest run of the night — indeed Hempfield’s biggest play of the night — netted 12 yards, but he was stripped of the ball by Holbert and the Knights lost possession.

Hempfield’s only offensive TD came when the Bulldogs fumbled it away at their own 12 late in the first half, setting up Erik Macik’s 10-yard TD run that cut it to14-7.

Wilson moved the ball well in the first half, Jake Stopper scoring the second of his TDs to put them up 21-7 just 1:12 before intermission.

In the second half what the Wilson offense did mostly was put its own defense in jeopardy.

There was the blocked punt with five minutes remaining that set Hempfield up at the Wilson 38. No matter. Four plays later the Black Knights had moved backwards 10 yards.

A few minutes later the Bulldogs ran a fake punt at the Hempfield 39, but Stopper fumbled the direct snap to him and the Knights took over at their 41.

Cummings threw three deep incompletions before a wide receiver screen on fourth down netted just 5 yards and finally allowed the Bulldogs ‘D’ to take a much-deserved rest.

“We dominated the game,” Dahms said, “but give it to Hempfield, they hung in there. It (our defense) had to come through, but they tightened up and stopped them. Three series at the end we had to stop ’em. We did a nice job.”